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Friday, February 25, 2011

Chimichurri sauce...I had never had it before last night but after one bite, I was a convert. We had it over our grilled flank steak (which set off our smoke alarms as just about everything does...our poor neighbors) and it was just delicious. I've never been a huge red meat fan (I was a downright picky eater growing up) but with this sauce, it was delicious. And I didn't stop at my steak - I was using the chimichurri sauce over my steamed green beans as well.

As Bryant described, chimichurri sauce has same similarities to pesto. Olive oil, herbs (in this case, parsley and oregano), garlic, salt...only in this case, you nix the nuts and add in red wine vinegar and black and red pepper flakes instead. Delicious, healthy and a great way to use up the extra parsley that always seems to be lingering in my fridge.

This dish also took minutes to come together - the chimichurri takes probably 10 minutes to prep and make and the flank steak takes about 10 minutes to cook and 10 minutes to rest (you could make the chimichurri while the steak is resting). Served with polenta and steamed green beans, it was an ideal weeknight dinner (you could also serve over a bed of lettuce as the blogger from Cookin' Canuck does for a great steak salad).

Preheat a grill to high heat. Brush both sides of a 1 1/2 pound flank steak with a generous amount of olive oil. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the steak on the grill and cook for approximately 5 minutes per side, or until the steak is rare to medium-rare (145 degrees).

Remove the steak from the grill and let it rest for 10 minutes.

While steak is resting, in a food processor or blender, combine chopped parsley, red wine vinegar, water, minced cloves of garlic, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, dried hot red pepper flakes, and chopped oregano leaves. Pulse until the parsley and oregano are finely chopped, but not completely smooth, scraping down the sides after every few pulses. With the food processor running, slowly pour in 1/4 cup olive oil. Pour the dressing into a bowl and set aside.